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<h3><a href="/go=news.detail&gid=457254" target="_blank">
Most successful American BJJ black belt ever
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<a href="/go=news.detail&gid=457254" ><img class="photo" src="http://img.mixedmartialarts.com/method=get&rs=100&q=75&x=70&y=4&w=700&h=372&ro=0&s=026rafaellovatojrvsandregalvaogallerypost.jpg" /></a>
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<p><a href="http://twitter.com/bjjheroes" target="_blank">Andre Borges</a>, the man behind BJJ Heroes, broke down America's most successful BJJ black belt of all time for <a href="https://twitter.com/flograppling" target="_blank">FloGrappling</a>, considering the top candidates.</p>
BJ Penn
Bill Cooper
Robert Drysdale
#1 Rafael Lovato, Jr.
Regardless of nationality, the black belt is one of the most accomplished athletes ever in IBJJF World Championships history with eight medals (one gold, one silver, six bronze). Lovato, Jr. also conquered two Pan-American titles at black belt (one at blue), two silver and five bronze.
If these 17 medals from two of the planet’s toughest grappling tournaments didn’t win your vote, Lovato, Jr. was also the first "gringo" to win a Brazilian national title in the adult black belt division back in 2007—a performance he surpassed in 2013 by collecting the openweight title at the prestigious event.
Although the contest for "Best in the U.S." is a tight one, it's definitely in favor of Rafael Lovato, Jr. when comparing careers in the gi. And with no other active American black belts even close to holding as many medals as him, it certainly looks as though he will remain in that position for a while.
I love the Grill, but very much disagree that his credentials outweigh BJ Penn's.
I also think Keenan, while still young and very much coming up, deserves to be on that list. He is a few steps away from the big prize and has won almost everything else, short of ADCC. Probably has the best resume of ins versus quality opponents too.
JT Torres is another I would put ahead of Bill Cooper if we are talking strictly jiu jitsu.
EDIT: Oh, I'm sorry, maybe those are the candidates and not the rankings. I think I might have read it wrong.
The amount of medals that they have accumulated should be matched with the number and breadth of competitions they have entered and the number of years they have been active in the competition game. I believe this would be a more accurate representation of accomplishment.
Drysdale has one American parent and one Brazilian parent. He spent time in both the States and Brazil but I believe was born here? Obviously he has lived here for some time.
I disagree that Lundell is in discussion for top competitive Americans, considering the accomplishments of others.
I think Lovato is the clear #1, unless we are counting both MMA and BJJ accomplishments which wuld favor BJ.
If you are considering the quality of opponents (ie that Drysdale submitted Marcelo), I think it is really important to look at Keenan's resume with quality wins (although not quite as dominant as submitting them) over guys like Lo, and Braulio.
To a lesser extent the same can be said of JT with wins over guys like Santana, Langhi, Lepri, etc.
The title is very vague. Just says "most successful".. There are different ways to gauge success.
Baby Jay not only had success in BJJ tourneys, but also was a 2 division UFC champ, made millions of $, has his own UFC gym, and the fastest BJJ BB under Andre Pedernerais(sp?) iirc..
HeHitsMeBecauseHeLovesMe - Lavato is an absolute wizard, but Drysdale submitted Marcelo.
hes also way heavier than Marcello
Yes, which does help, but I would be more likely to look at the weight as a main contributing factor, if he had beaten him on points. He had an advantage in weight, but he still submitted Marcelo fucking Garcia.
